Sing Along
Gottlieb, 1967There have been 4 images uploaded to this topic. (View topic image gallery).
Hoping for some help. My Sing Along machine starts up ok but starts at ball 2 instead of ball 1. It does this no matter if it's on 3 ball or 5 ball play. The player unit resets to the correct spot (space before the ball 1 rivet.). I don't have the schematics. It must be a switch on either the score motor or the reset bank? (maybe set too close and it's bouncing during start up....) I've looked and cannot find anything out of adjustment. Any ideas?????
hmmm...
just to make sure i understand...
- on reset, the ball count unit goes to the spot "before the first rivet" (good)...
- when serving the ball, the game then starts on ball 2, not ball 1... indicating that the ball count unit is advancing 2 steps... (bad) edit: does it advance twice, or just blow right past the ball 1 rivet?
does it "skip balls" at any other time? or just ball 1?
You are correct on the first 2 statements. I'm not exactly sure if it advances 2x or blows right by. When I play either 3 ball or 5 ball game it does not skip it's plays to the end and then the game over light comes on done deal....
if it starts up fine and ends fine. I think as the ball travels over the trough switch it jumps to ball 2
the stepper is being pulsed twice. I will have to pull the print to see what is in line.
watch the ball count stepper as the ball goes over the trough switch
then pull the ball with pf up and do it manually and see if it does the same thing
The simplest explanation is probably that the stroke to advance the ball count is a bit too long and it blows right by ball one. That'd be an easy adjustment.
In any case, these guys are giving you spot on recommendations of what to check.
I think you hit it on the head when the ball travels over the trough switch it lights ball #2 so something is pulsing 2x. Last night I did pull the ball and start a game then manually hit the trough switch and it did the same thing.
I'm starting to think that I must have a switch just a wee bit (that's Irish talk for St Patty's day) too close. I just am not sure where it is, and was hoping for some direction to save me some time.......
ok, so you can manually reproduce it, and it only happens when the first ball is being served...
take out the ball so you don't break anything... prop up the pf and "start" a game... manually actuate the trough switch and observe exactly what is happening with the ball count unit... is it really pulsing twice? or is it just sliding past ball 1 to ball 2?
There's nothing special about the ball trough switch that would behave differently going from the Ball Count zero position to Ball 1 vs. (say) Ball 3 to Ball 4; if the ball trough switch were too close and the unit getting an extra pulse, it would happen at other steps as well.
I would first suggest stepping the Ball Count unit manually (via its advance coil plunger) and see if it steps one at a time from reset to Ball 1, then to Ball 2, etc. With the ball out, can start a game. Then in the backbox manually step the Ball Count unit once and see which Ball in Play lights up (should be Ball 1). This takes the ball trough switch out of the path for the moment, to help isolate.
All great advise. I hit the start button last night and all it did was light up....nothing nada zero zilch......I was thinking about taking it to the Ohio show this weekend but I think Sing Along decided she wasn't going anywhere....and I'm fine with that. So it's time to start from square one and do the systematic approach and just go through the whole machine....... maybe next week...
again thanks for all the help
Bill
Quoted from Trickster:
I just purchased singalong in Australia. I've got general illumination going and today got the scores to reset to zero. This is my first EM. Can't wait to bring it to life. It has schematics with it too. Bonus!
Trickster
Congrats Trickster-lets see some pics 
Quoted from Bill123:
Hoping for some help. My Sing Along machine starts up ok but starts at ball 2 instead of ball 1. It does this no matter if it's on 3 ball or 5 ball play. The player unit resets to the correct spot (space before the ball 1 rivet.). I don't have the schematics. It must be a switch on either the score motor or the reset bank? (maybe set too close and it's bouncing during start up....) I've looked and cannot find anything out of adjustment. Any ideas?????
My recent experience has been that a trough switch that is adjusted too close can cause the ball in play unit to index twice in one pass. I experienced this both on an Abra Ca Dabra and my Atlantis.
Not that this is exactly your issue, but inspection and adjustment is simple. Just open the switch gap a bit to see if it improves your condition here. Obviously the limit for opening this switch is such that the switch still needs to make.
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Walton Hills, OH
Colac